Jalapeño Turkey Club Panini

2 pieces whole wheat bread

1 ½ slices Swiss cheese

8 slices shaved turkey

1 T chopped tomato

1 slice bacon or turkey bacon, cooked and chopped

5 slices pickled jalapeño peppers

2 sprays olive oil cooking spray

Assemble as a sandwich, with the cheese forming the first layer on each slice of bread. Spray the outward-facing sides of both pieces of bread with the olive oil spray and either cook in a panini maker or sear on both sides in a frying pan. Mmm! Mmm! Good!

By the way, I hope everyone had an absolute fantastic Christmas and New Year! My family celebrated our son’s first Christmas in Washington this year and it was awesome! Not only did we get away from Alaska and enjoy some “warmer weather” but we had some great food and family fun.

Here is the “fancy” presentation of a simple little roast chicken with rosemary.

Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
1 whole chicken (fryer) wing tips cut
6 cloves garlic, crushed
3 tablespoons fresh rosemary leaves stripped from stems
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, eyeball it
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 tablespoon Montreal Seasoning or coarse salt and black pepper
1/2 cup dry white wine or chicken broth
Directions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Arrange chicken in a baking dish, 9 by 13-inch. Add garlic, rosemary, extra-virgin olive oil, lemon zest and grill seasoning or salt and pepper to the dish.

Coat the chicken with all ingredients, rub under the skin and in the cavity.

Place the whole chicken in the oven.

Roast 60-70 minutes or until the juices run clear.

Add wine and lemon juice to the dish and combine with pan juices.

Return to oven and turn oven off. Let stand 5 minutes longer then remove chicken from the oven.

Place baking dish on trivet and serve, spooning pan juices over the chicken pieces.

I chose to make this without the flowers because I did not have them readily available but this is the recipe and a photo of the halibut in its entirety. I hope you enjoy!

The herbs and blossoms coating this fish not only look spectacular, but also add a summery flavor to the light broth and peas beneath it. At Flea St. Cafe‚ we serve this over buttermilk-mashed potatoes, which is heavenly.

1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1/4 cup chopped organically grown edible flower petals, such as calendula,
nasturtiums, roses, onion, or chive blossoms
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
11/2 pounds wild Alaska halibut fillet, cut into 4 pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chicken, vegetable, or fish broth
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 pound fresh peas, shelled, or 1 cup frozen peas, thawed

In a shallow bowl, combine the parsley, flower petals, chives, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper.

Place the halibut in the flower and herb mixture, pressing the fish to thoroughly coat both sides. Set aside.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the halibut and cook for 4 minutes on one side. Turn over the halibut and pour in the broth. Add the saffron and garlic. Simmer for 5 minutes, or until the halibut is just opaque and the broth is reduced by half. During the last minute or so, add the peas.

Remove the pan from the heat. Place 1 fish fillet in each of 4 shallow soup bowls. Divide the broth and peas evenly among the bowls.

Makes 4 servings

Variation
Substitute salmon or any mild, firm fish fillet for the halibut. Whenever possible, try to buy line-caught, wild fish.

Adapted from Simply Organic, by Jesse Ziff Cool, Chronicle Books (2008).

Cheese Is Very Popular

Thus, it pays to learn about the most popular gourmet food gifts and also who to gift such items to. Perhaps, the first thing that comes to mind when choosing gourmet food gifts is to give someone, especially foodies, gourmet cheeses, especially those that are made in Spain, Italy, Ireland and England and also from the US. You could include genuine cheddars from England or true Brie from France and be sure that the person that receives such gourmet food gifts will truly appreciate receiving the gift and will also be able to savor them no end.

Also, by combining cakes and cheeses you can come up with some pretty excellent gourmet food gifts and cheesecakes are sure to make a person feel special and they are also very suited to bring along to a party and that too in different varieties including rich chocolaty truffle cheesecakes and those swirled with some candy.

And, if you want something other than cheese and cheesecake gourmet food gifts, why not consider giving baked foods that are well loved by most people? So, you may want to cook up some tasty cookies and even coffee cakes that are really worth giving as gifts, which would be most appreciated when laid out on a Christmas morning breakfast table.

Being able to purchase gourmet foods online comes in handy, not just with gourmet, but also with ethnic foods.  For example, say you are interested in making a traditional Japanese dish for a party and don’t have a lot of time to prepare it.  Unless you live near an area with a large Asian population, finding some of the ingredients that would go into these dishes traditionally is practically impossible.  However, by having access to the internet you can have access to specialty Asian food sites to find everything you need for your party.

Thus, you can choose from a wide variety of things to make your gourmet food gifts either decadent or merely functional and healthy. Whatever you choose, you can be sure that you will put a smile on many a face and gladden many a heart.

When we moved into our new home , I took a chance and bought a Keg-O-Rator for my office . Best purchase I ever made . Now instead of being called Joe six-pack, I can now be called Joe Kegger. Some of the reasons why a keg in the home is necessary:

1.   reason is you always have beer in the house . So when my buddies stop by , you do not need to run to the store to get some beer . You are always ready when you have your own beer in a keg at home .

2. You may establish the temperature for your beer . instead? than having your beer at the temperature your wife sets for all the food in the refrigerator, you can have your beer at the temperature you desire. I have my Keg-O-Rator temperature set at 37 degrees. Rather than the 45 degrees the wife has set the refrigerator at .

3. Having a beer keg in the home is also much cheaper. I put a pony keg in my Keg-O-Rator, which provides roughly 80, 12 ounces glasses of beer. Based on the prices I pay for a keg of  beer , this works out to be about 65 cents for a 12 ounce can. If you work this out, it is about $3.90 for a six-pack of beer.

These are three good reasons on why you should have a beer keg in your house . The investing might be at first steep, but you will regain the expense, depending on your ingestion of beer, in a very short time. The wife and I drink a pony keg in about a month, along with friends helping.  Based on this and doing some rough math, this makes my return on investment at about a year and a half.